Partials

Partials, Book 1

By: Dan Wells

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The human race is all but extinct after a war with Partials - engineered organic beings identical to humans - has decimated the population. Reduced to only tens of thousands by RM, a weaponized virus to which only a fraction of humanity is immune, the survivors in North America have huddled together on Long Island while the Partials have mysteriously retreated. The threat of the Partials is still imminent, but, worse, no baby has been born immune to RM in more than a decade. Our time is running out.

Kira, a sixteen-year-old medic-in-training, is on the front lines of this battle, seeing RM ravage the community while mandatory pregnancy laws have pushed what's left of humanity to the brink of civil war, and she's not content to stand by and watch. But as she makes a desperate decision to save the last of her race, she will find that the survival of humans and Partials alike rests in her attempts to uncover the connections between them - connections that humanity has forgotten, or perhaps never even knew were there.

Dan Wells, acclaimed author of I Am Not a Serial Killer, takes readers on a pulsepounding journey into a world where the very concept of what it means to be human is in question - one where our humanity is both our greatest liability and our only hope for survival.

©2012 HarperCollinsPublishers (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

My favorite dystopian series

I have read and listened to all three books several times. I’m not a young adult (almost 40) but love this series and most of Dan Well’s books. The amount of detail and creativity that went into creating the plot and characters is incredible. Yes there are some parts that are a little “young” but not annoyingly so. It’s definitely worth the read!

Exciting story, decent characters, serious twist

I definitely liked this book, it honestly got a little convoluted for me a few times, but the story managed to find its way. I actually liked the plot better than I did the characters (not sure if that was due to lack of development or the performer...) but the action and excitement made up for that.

The ending definitely has me champing at the bit for the next book, so if you're on the fence, I'd say give it a listen :)

Dystopian... on the rocks with a twist

A dystopian novel that stands out for it's surprising twists... The other reviewers mentioned the "surprise" in the novel, and I found myself thinking several times, "Aha! That's it!" But no, it's more a series of surprises that kept me distracted from the final, biggest surprise. Well written, well-developed characters, and the narration was easy to follow. I would definitely recommend this to others.

**Definitely YA-friendly! I don't remember much, if any, cussing, and there is no sexuality beyond a little kissing.

Decent

The book was decent. The beginning was very slow but it picked up mid way through. The narration for all male voices was the same.

Okay storyline

The storyline was okay. The book did not get interesting until the last quarter of the books d even then it wasn't terribly interesting. I understand that some time is needed to build the world and characters but I didn't feel like it was done well with as many pages dedicated to it. I may or may not read the sequel which for me is telling on how good the book was.

Very predictable, enjoyed it anyway

the narrator didn't keep the tone in all instances, however she was mostly consistent. Very cliche ending.

Another misunderstood loner saves the world

Ehh.

I felt like I was proofing a script for submission to Disney for their next never-understood-loner-who-ends-up-saving-the-world movie. But then, they're already done dozens of those. This would be just another. A decent other, mind you, but I didn't see enough credible uniqueness in the characters, story or struggle to make this really stand out.

The Good: Such a great idea, and I especially have great appreciation for the unique idea of the Hope Act (forced pregnancy to maintain the species) and its ensuing debate.

The Bad: I found it too difficult to be plausible that a mid-teens girl could be carrying so much responsibility, be so well versed in genetics/virology, and turn so quickly from a no one to a most-wanted terrorist to everyone's hero in a world devastated by an apocalyptic war just a decade earlier. It seems an older and wiser character would better shoulder this burden, and the thoroughly YA angle left me disbelieving too often to give myself over to the book. Add in the way-too-YA romance angle, and it's no surprise I spent a bit of time admonishing myself that skimming is never the proper way to read a book, even the boring bits.

pretty good

Overall I enjoyed it. Some of the speeds of things that happened in the few days of research that Kira did, didn't quite make sense. Other than that, I liked it okay.

Interesting story!

I enjoyed this book but I'm not sure I can continue the series as an audiobook. While the story has me hooked and I'm curious about the next part, the narrator has a repetitive way of delivering that distracted from the story.

Way better than many modern fictions.

Would you consider the audio edition of Partials to be better than the print version?

I do not think the audio book is every really better than the print version. I like that inside my mind that the male and female characters have the proper voices. But because I work nights and I can listen to books but I am not allowed to read. This is the perfect type of audio book. The voice was good for most characters and it did not put put me to sleep. In fact the audio version did the opposite.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved that the main character fit her part. She did not exit her role and become something she was not. But most importantly I was surprised and impressed at the authors view and backstory of the post apocalyptic world. He didn't put in any zombies or nuclear warfare. The story was unique and tasteful. I feel as though this is the type of story the hunger games was trying to be.

Which scene was your favorite?

I think it would be poor taste for me to give away any of this book. So I will keep this opinion to myself.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh yes, I almost did. The only reason I waited is because I wanted to save some for my next day at work.